Adaptive prescribed performance control of nonlinear asymmetric input saturated systems with application to AUVs

Abstract

In this paper, the adaptive prescribed performance tracking control of nonlinear asymmetric input saturated systems in strict-feedback form is addressed under the consideration of model uncertainties and external disturbances. A radial basis function neural network (RBF-NN) is utilized to handle the model uncertainties. By prescribed performance functions, the transient performance of the system can be guaranteed. The continuous Gaussian error function is represented as an approximation of asymmetric saturation nonlinearity such that the backstepping technique can be leveraged in the control design. Based on the Lyapunov synthesis, residual function approximation inaccuracies and external disturbances are compensated by constructed adaptive control laws. As a consequence, all the signals in the closed-loop system are uniformly ultimately bounded and the tracking errors bounded by prescribed functions converge to a small neighbourhood of zero. The proposed method is applied to the autonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs) with extensive simulation results demonstrating the effectiveness of the proposed method.